Forget the doughnut with your morning coffee. Bestselling writer Julia Cameron said "morning pages" can do you more good.
"Everyone should write three pages of longhand writing in the morning — strictly stream-of-consciousness stuff," said the author of "The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. "For Westerners, it’s a potent form of meditation. We h a v e a hard time doing sitting meditation. Morning pages is a way to do something and nothing simultaneously."
"Artist’s Way" tools such as "morning pages" have helped more than a million people access their creativity and realize their dreams. Cameron, a novelist, playwright, filmmaker and collaborator with former husband Martin Scorsese, will share these simple techniques in a seminar called "Creative Myths and Monsters: an Artist’s Way Workshop." The workshop meets Saturday in Scottsdale.
"In 1978, I stopped drinking and needed to find a way to work sober that was without drama," Cameron said. "I began devising tools and techniques that allowed me to work from different basis other than ego."
What Cameron found was that the techniques she developed had universal relevance.
"I worked with other people and discovered that the same tools that worked to get me unblocked and creative worked for them, too," she said. "I began to teach little artist circles and by the time I finally wrote the book, I had been teaching those lessons for a decade."
Working with the principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Cameron developed a three-month program to recover creativity. "The Artist’s Way" shows how to tap into the higher power that connects human creativity and the creative energies of the universe.
"All of us are creative," Cameron said. "Most of us are far more creative than we know. With the use of a few tools, your creativity can be freed and strengthened."
Whether you’re a working or aspiring artist or are simply interested in more creative living, Cameron said her workshop can help.
"The workshop will help discouraged artists take heart again," she said. "And people who never would have called themselves artists but had creative dreams that have gone unfulfilled will find the courage to try to pursue their dreams."
Spark your creativity
What: "Creative Myths and Monsters: An Artist’s Way Workshop"
When: 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Radisson Resort and Spa Scottsdale, 7171 N. Scottsdale Road
Cost: $40
Information: New Vision Spiritual Growth Center, (480) 391-1126
